The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1887-05-26

would the moral power Of our country
lar exceed the physical, for it would
tell in tones which the oppressors and
oppressed of all the earth could hear,
what man can do under the blessed
sway OF self-goyernmcnt.
Our fathers told lis that the only
hope Of the preservation Of our liber-
ties lay in the virtue and intelligence
Of the people. This has been accept
ed as true, and patriotic exertion has
everywhere been made to educate the
masses OF our people. The vulgar dan
gers which thus tried us in the past
have happily been met and overcome,
but those which remain to come are
different and unusual They will have
TO beprovided against by intelligence
upon different subjects, Hitherto our
education has been chiefly literary it
is now necessary, as it seems to me, to
instruct the masses in those seminal
principals of government which are
accepted as being the most condue-
Give to the preservation of free institu-
tons. An occasional chair of politi-
cal economy and constitutional law in
a College or University we have now.
1t is not enough The elem entary
principals of political science should
be taught in the primary schools, and
should be made as familiar to the child
citizen rs the multiplication table.
The man citizen would not forget it,
and would be enabled to test by these
principles every measure of legislation
and all the fair seeming propositions
of the demagogue. The political in
struction Of our people is mostly left
to volunteer politicians and to press
generally no better informed than the
politicians. The teaching OF neither
is in the philosophic spirit of the seek
er after truth, but is nearly always
biased by the partizan feeling and
prejudice of the teacher This should
not be. The greatest and most impor-
tant concern to society-the proper
form of its goyernment-should not
be left to that haphazzard teaching of
so miscellaneous crowd of instructors.
There are certain great principles up
on which all are agreed these should
be inculcated by the most careful
and diligent methods into the youth
ful mind everywhere. They would
bear'fruit an hundred fold.
| am most happy to see that this ven,
cradle institution is still in flourishing
existence, and doing its share toward
diffusing the blessings OF education
and good principles among the youth
OF our country.
1t is situated in the midst of what
believe is soon to become, one of the
richest and most important centers O
industry in the United States. III
climate, position and natural resour
ces, will make it so. May this seat O
learning share the full measure of tn,
prosperity which awaits this section
The interest which North Calolini
feels in your welfare and that CT YOU
whole State, is most cordial and sincere
Tennessee is the child of North Caro-
lima, who feels all the mothers prid
in the comeliness Of her great and glo
rious daughter. Three of the sons W
sent to you in the wilderness yo,
made Presidents Of the United State
and enrolled among the great name
of American history. Scarcely is Their
the name of an old family in the Stat
but "claims kindred with sacred clay
OF North Carolina. If these ties c
blood and ancientjurisdiction were nc
enough to feed the fires of friend
ship, no citizen of North Carolina ca
cease to remember with boundin
pulses that day in 1880 when the me
OF Washington county with Shelby an
Sewer, crossed the mountains to tn
rescue of their mother, and performe
that deed of arms upon the heights {
Kings Mountain which has not We
, been excelled, il indeed it has eve
been equaled, by any achievement i
modern military annals. Those BRAY
and glorious men, came not with pom
and noisy threatening and unuterabl
ferocity, as Burke describs the burs
7 ing OF the cloud of Mahratta caly,
= ry from the declivity of the mountai
= and the desolation OF the Carnatic
:, they came quietly, in their huntin
shirts, with rifle on shoulder, and tb
% % fire of freedom burning in their heart
!, and with speed and utter disregaf
to OF discipline and routine milital
"a science which set all tactics at defanc
nc struck that memorable blow at kingl
of power which critics admit to have bee
Il the turning point of the war of Ind
al pendence. AS this band of citizen-w wa
III riors descended from the slopes of Il
~ great Yellow Mountain and the Bit
~ Ridge into the plains OF Burke, the
,o- passed near rude log school-hous